Simple list.append() question

[Martijn Faassen]

Kevin Cazabon <kcazabon at home.com> wrote:
> well, if not prettier, why not obfuscate it?  q:]  Although this isn't
> pretty, I'm sure we can make it a little less intelligable with some work.

> entire_list = [];for i in range(3):entire_list.append([])

If you write it the normal way:

entire_list = []
for i in range(3):
    entire_list.append([])

It's pretty, readable, flexible, and it works. The only disadvantage is
that it's less short. But I'm willing to pay that price in this situation.

Generally it's a good idea to avoid * on sequences, unless that sequence is
immutable and contains immutable things; i.e. strings. I don't recall
using * on tuples ever, but you can do so safely if the tuple contains
immutable things only.

Is there any useful way to use * on lists that I missed? Usually we want
the copy semantics here, not the reference semantics. Perhaps it's a good
idea to completely forbid * on lists in p3k? Tuples too for all I care.
Then again I may be missing important uses, so enlighten me.

Regards,

Martijn
-- 
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